Will This Setup Work?

[Trevor Coats]

Okay so please be patient with me as I am only 13 years old and about to turn 14! I am going to be laying cat5E cable in our attic this weekend and to accommodate that I am going to be using my original modem but now I would like to add a switch and a wireless router for my access point. My question is, is will everything work this way? It seems like some people have their router first and then there switch however I think that the modem has a router built in. All I am wanting to know is if this will work. I want all the computers to have a fast internet connection but also be able to communicate with each other, my freeNAS server, and the wireless printer. Please explain clearly that way I will fully understand. I will greatly appreciate anyone who takes the time to do so!

I have attached a diagram of my future network please look at this to know what I am talking about. Will everything work in the layout I have provided or do I need to change it?

Here are the links for the hardware for my future network.

The Modem - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008O91ZCQ


The Switch - http://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-16-Port-Gigabit-GREENnet-TEG-S16DG/dp/B0044GJ516/ref=sr_1_17?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1370485211&sr=1-17&keywords=trendnet+switch+16


The Wireless Router or Access Point - http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WDR4300-Wireless-Gigabit-300Mbps/dp/B0088CJT4U/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1370485966&sr=1-2&keywords=wireless+router+n750

PS: I have don't yet own any of the equipment other than the modem otherwise I would try to figure it out myself.

 

[ksham]

You're connecting the modem to a switch and then from the switch to a router?

 

[ur6beersaway]

Please think about CAT6 or better. http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-cat5-and-vs-cat5e-and-vs-cat6-and-vs-cat7-cables/ You will bottleneck with cat5.

 

[Trevor Coats]

You're connecting the modem to a switch and then from the switch to a router?

Yes

 

[Trevor Coats]

Please think about CAT6 or better. http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-cat5-and-vs-cat5e-and-vs-cat6-and-vs-cat7-cables/ You will bottleneck with cat5.

I have and I still am considering it but for right now since our speed is slow. I decided just to try cat5E

 

[ksham]

That's not very useful. There's no IP or firewall there. Are you only using the router as a wireless point?

 

[USAFRet]

You're connecting the modem to a switch and then from the switch to a router?

Yes

Don't.
Modem -> router -> switch -> all other devices.

The router performs other functions. DHCP, NAT, firewall.
If your modem also has a router built in (some do, some don't), then you don't need the downstream router (TPLink Wireless N). Just switches and access points for further distance WiFi.

In cases like this, it is much easier to describe what you want to do and what you have, rather than have a "sort of" predesigned solution that may not actually work.

 

[Trevor Coats]

That's not very useful. There's no IP or firewall there. Are you only using the router as a wireless point?

The firewall is built in to my modem. And yes I was only going to use the router as a wireless point.

 

[ur6beersaway]

You are going to stream to ROKUs? (cat 5) You have to figure for a MAX load even if it will not be the case. It will be too late after you done...just sayin.

 

[Trevor Coats]

Please think about CAT6 or better. http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-cat5-and-vs-cat5e-and-vs-cat6-and-vs-cat7-cables/ You will bottleneck with cat5.

Everwhere I read it says that CAT5E cable and CAT6 are very similar and can procces the same amount of data however cat6 is just better at it. So my question is, is CAT5E just won't work at all or will it work but not very good?

 

[USAFRet]

If you're wiring new now...why not CAT6?

 

[USAFRet]

And for the physical wiring...conduit with helper strings, not just the wire.

And then we get into exactly where and how all this wire is placed. New home construction? Refub a century old used-to-be-barn?
What are we building this into?

 

[Trevor Coats]

And for the physical wiring...conduit with helper strings, not just the wire.

And then we get into exactly where and how all this wire is placed. New home construction? Refub a century old used-to-be-barn?
What are we building this into?

My house which is about 50 years old we will be running it through the attic and under the floor

 

[USAFRet]

oops...double post

 

[USAFRet]

Everything you have listed will work, except for:

Modem -> router -> switch(es) -> devices
WiFi devices depend off the Wireless N router

and if your modem thingy is also a router....you don't need the other router.

 

[ur6beersaway]

Have a Happy Birthday, Maybe you will receive CAT-7 as a gift.

 

[Trevor Coats]

Have a Happy Birthday, Maybe you will receive CAT-7 as a gift.

Thanks. Oh no LOL I think that would be too complicated for me I am not even sure how to make a patch cable with CAT-7 although I am sure I could learn. I am pretty much an expert at doing CAT5E and I have messed with CAT6 once. A lady hired me to run cable from a pre-hooked up setup. She just needed cable ran to 22 different computers. I really enjoyed it however I wish I had observed the modem,router, and switch setup a little more. While I was there I literally just installed keystone jacks and wall plates and the wire I did not even hook it up to a switch only to a patch panel. She had a professional do the rest.